A Zambia court has jailed the country's former Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Malanji to four years in prison with hard labour after he was convicted for embezzling state funds.
Mr Malanji, 60, served under the late Edgar Lungu between 2018 and 2021. On Thursday, a Lusaka Magistrate’s Court returned a verdict after a long-running trial.
The former minister was arrested in late 2021, accused of using state funds to acquire property, including two Bell helicopters that were later recovered in South Africa.
He was accused of buying a Bell 430 (ZS-RZA) and Bell 206 (9J-GAC) for $1.4 million from two South African companies, National Airways Cooperation and MML Aviation. The two helicopters were recovered by the Zambian government from Zimbabwe and South Africa, respectively.
Prosecutors also said the former minister acquired three properties with $5 million meant for the purchase of a property for Zambia’s embassy in Turkey.
He was also jointly charged with former Treasury secretary Fredson Yamba with an irregular transfer of over $8 million to the Zambian mission in Turkey. Mr Yamba was sentenced to three years in jail for the offences.
“I have heard the spirited mitigation by counsel and taken note that the convicts are first offenders and are entitled to leniency,” said Magistrate Ireen Wishimanga.
Mr Malanji and Mr Yamba were the first top officials from the Lungu administration to be arrested after President Hakainde Hichilema took office in 2021.
Mr Lungu, who died in South Africa in June this year, was also accused alongside his wife Esther of massive corruption.
The former president’s family has been refusing to repatriate his body back home for burial, accusing the government of victimisation.
President Hichilema promised to be tough on corruption when he swept to power in 2021, but his critics say graft has actually worsened under his rule.
In May, the United States said it would cut $50 million worth of medical aid a year to Zambia because the government had failed to deal with “systematic” theft over the years.
The US said it had discovered in 2021 that medicines and medical supplies that were meant to be provided free to Zambians were being sold by pharmacies across the southern African country.
Washington said its investigation of around 2 000 pharmacies in the country between 2021 and 2023 found that nearly half of them were selling medicine paid for by US aid funds.
In April, President Hichilema pardoned former Defence minister Geoffrey Bwalya Mwamba, who had been serving a five-year prison sentence for corruption.
Mr Mwamba, who served under the late Michael Sata between 2011 and 2013, was freed on medical grounds. He was President Hichilema’s running mater in the 2016 presidential election where they lost to Mr Lungu.
President Hichilema is also accused of failing to act against senior government officials implicated in graft scandals in recent years.
The conviction of the former top government officials, however, is expected to boost his United Party for National Development (UPND) re-election chances in next year’s polls.
UNDP styled itself as a “new dawn government” with promises to end graft and introduce unmatched democratic reforms.
